Innervation
by Gmariam
Summary: Owen, Ianto, and a series of stimulation issues. No, not that kind.
1. 1: Input

1: Input

Of course it had to be Owen who ended up on the retrieval with Ianto.

Gwen was meeting with the Cardiff police about an upswing in drunk and disorderly calls around the bay. Andy Davidson had called thinking it was obviously a Torchwood case, until Ianto had pointed out after she'd left that the recent success of the Cardiff rugby team was more likely the problem. Tosh was knee deep in computer code, barely stopping when the Rift alarm went off and literally sending the information over to Ianto's computer without looking up. And since Jack was in his office, feet on the desk, phone hanging from his ear as he twirled a pencil and pulled faces at whatever government bureaucrat was talking his ear off, Ianto was forced to pull Owen from his latest attempt to break the Space Invaders record Tosh had set and drag him out to Grangemoor Park to pick up whatever had fallen through the Rift this time.

They spent the short drive sniping at one another, albeit in a friendly sort of way. Ianto had always tried to give as good as he got, and after Jack had left, Owen had backed off from the crueler edge of his words. Most of the time it was more a game than any real attempt to hurt or offend. After traipsing around the wet grass—and Ianto had to agree with Owen's grumbling this time, it was muddy and miserable and he'd need to dry, brush, and polish his new patent leathers—they finally found a small metal gadget that looked more like an old Bop It game than advanced alien tech. It scanned as harmless, and Owen, being Owen, tried bopping it. It might have made a half-hearted bloop sound; Ianto grabbed it and threw it in the containment box with a roll of his eyes.

It was as they were driving back to the Hub that Ianto first suspected something might not be right. Owen turned on the radio and started slapping his knee to INXS. Which was always annoying, but Ianto could swear he felt it on his own leg and snapped at Owen to stop. The doctor grinned and turned up the music; Ianto blamed the suspension and made a mental note to take the SUV to the shop.

They decided to pick up coffee and a late lunch. Stopping first for drinks, Ianto felt the sharp burn of a hot cappuccino on the roof of his mouth as they left the shop, and glanced up to find Owen lowering his cup and wincing. Ianto hadn't touched his own drink yet, and he frowned as they walked across the street to pick up pizza. For the last month Tosh and Gwen had been trying to get them to eat healthier, but it was Friday, and Owen and Ianto had insisted that Fridays were technically the weekend so "we can eat whatever we want." The box was hot and greasy, and Ianto almost dropped it. Biting back a curse, he glanced up in surprise when Owen dropped the car keys, shook his hand, and swore.

Ianto set the box on the floor in the backseat of the SUV and stood, narrowing his eyes as a horrible and ridiculous thought occurred to him. On a hunch, he pinched his arm; Owen went "Ow!" as he rubbed at same spot. Ianto pulled at his ear, and Owen swiped at an invisible assailant. Taking a deep breath, Ianto kicked the side of the SUV and sighed when Owen grabbed his foot and let out a stream of curse words worthy of the latest Quentin Tarantino film.

"I think we have a problem," Ianto announced. Owen grumbled under his breath.

"Yeah, something invisible is attacking me," he muttered, eyes slightly wild as he glanced around. "Did you feel anything?"

"Yes," Ianto nodded. "Because it was me."

"What?" asked Owen. "You're invisible or you're attacking me?"

"Neither. Get in," Ianto replied, and he climbed into the passenger door and waited for Owen to join him. "Watch." He pinched his nose, and Owen's hand flew to his face, his eyes wide and questioning. Ianto nodded again.

"No way," Owen replied. He flicked a finger against his cheek; it stung, and Ianto instinctively flinched.

"Are you seriously suggesting that I can feel everything you feel, and vice versa?" Owen asked; Ianto was fairly certain the doctor's voice was at least half an octave higher.

"It would appear so," Ianto replied dryly. "Two guesses what caused it?"

Owen groaned and let his head hit the steering wheel. Ianto let out an involuntary 'oof.' "You've got to be kidding me," the doctor muttered.

"There's a reason we don't play with alien tech like they're toys from the nineties," Ianto replied. "It's obviously not an intergalactic hand game."

"What is it, then?" asked Owen, starting the car. "And what do we do about it?"

Ianto sighed and let his head fall back, vaguely noticing that Owen flinched. "We take it to Tosh, of course. She'll figure it out."

* * *

Gwen had returned by the time Owen and Ianto walked into the Hub, bickering as usual. Ianto had a pizza box that he dumped unceremoniously on the sofa table before following Owen toward Tosh's desk. She glanced up and exchanged a look with Gwen; the men were obviously agitated about something.

"We have a problem," Owen announced. "Tech accident, figure it out."

"Excuse me?" asked Tosh, pushing her glasses to the top of her head. "Did this accident involve misplacing your manners by any chance?"

Owen opened his mouth to retort, but Ianto stepped forward and smiled, and Tosh couldn't help but smile back. Ianto never snapped at her the way the other two did.

"Sorry Tosh," he said. "But Owen's right. We found something on the retrieval that seems to have affected us."

"What happened?" asked Gwen, coming to stand with them. Tosh waited patiently for Ianto to answer, but Owen's stomach growled loudly instead, and Ianto frowned, his hands going around his middle.

"Didn't you eat anything for breakfast?" he asked, sounding annoyed.

"Not a thing." Owen shrugged, and Ianto looked slightly put out.

"Eat something," he said. "I don't fancy trying to figure this out whilst dealing with hunger pains all afternoon."

Owen rolled his eyes. "Fine. You explain, then." He bounded off and returned quickly with a beer, then sat down and practically inhaled a slice of pizza.

"What's going on?" asked Tosh, hoping for an answer this time. Ianto opened the containment box and carefully took out the artifact they'd found. It looked familiar, like something she'd seen before.

"It looks like a Bop It!" Gwen exclaimed. "I used to love those things."

"Apparently so did Owen," Ianto replied. "And it's not a Bop It, it's some sort of alien device that appears to have a rather unsettling effect if you try bopping it." He paused for effect. "Which Owen did, of course."

Tosh took it carefully, setting it down and immediately starting some scans. "What happened?" she asked. Ianto sighed and ran a hand through his hair. Tosh noticed Owen rub at his head, as if it itched. Oh, but that couldn't be it…

"I can feel what Owen feels, and he can feel what I feel."

"No way!" Gwen exclaimed. "That's not possible." She glanced back and forth from Tosh to Ianto. "Is it?"

"We work with alien technology from different times and planets," Ianto replied. "The Torchwood tagline may as well be 'Making the impossible possible.'"

"But feeling what someone else is feeling?" Gwen asked. "That's a stretch even for Torchwood."

"You do remember what happened to Owen last month, right?" asked Ianto. "With the tentacles?"

"Oi!" called Owen. "If we're telling embarrassing stories don't forget to share your own little mishap with that bit of alien goop and the rash—"

"Yes, yes," Ianto replied with a cough. Tosh exchanged a look with Gwen; they hadn't heard about that one. He continued with a neat deflection. "We've seen all sorts of alien technology fall through the Rift, is this really so hard to believe?"

Gwen didn't answer, but Tosh spoke up. "What do you mean when you say you can feel what the other person feels? Physically or emotionally?"

Ianto sighed. "Pinch me."

Tosh hesitated, but Gwen reached over and pinched his arm. Owen exclaimed from the couch, and her eyes went wide. "Owen!" she called. "Do something. Ianto, don't watch."

Owen rolled his eyes and cracked his neck. Ianto rubbed at it immediately with a grimace.

"Tense much, Owen?" he grumbled. Tosh shook her head in wonder.

"Believe us now?" Owen said. "So what do we do?" He took a long slug of beer and immediately belched. Ianto rubbed at his chest.

"That one hurt," he murmured. "How can you stand that stuff?"

Owen glanced at his bottle and shrugged again. "Tastes like rocket fuel, what's not to like?"

"The instantaneous heartburn?" Ianto suggested dryly.

"Bite me," Owen replied. Ianto raised an eyebrow, his jaw twitched, and Owen swore, his hand going to his mouth. It was a bit like watching a comedy sketch on iTv.

"You did that on purpose!" Owen exclaimed.

"Yep."

"It hurt."

"I know." Ianto grimaced slightly and turned back to Tosh with a long-suffering look on his face. "Please tell me you have some ideas?"

"Well, my first thought is that somehow your nerve endings are sending signals to one another and-"

"Not how it works, how to fix it," Owen grumbled.

Tosh sighed and examined the device some more. "I don't see any kind of switch, something that would reverse it, but that doesn't mean anything. We'll figure it out. I think it's best if you stick together, though," she said. "We don't know anything about what's actually making the connection between you. It could be something that gets worse if you're apart."

"Or it could get better," Ianto offered, sounding hopeful. "Fade away."

"Yeah, I'm not going to faint if teaboy leaves my side," Owen replied.

"We don't know that for sure," Tosh said. She glanced up at them, feeling bad but knowing it was for the best. "Look, if you can feel what the other person is feeling, it makes sense to stick together, so you know what the other person is doing."

"She's got a point," Gwen agreed. "You can't go out and get drunk tonight, Owen. You'd might stick Ianto with a hangover!"

"And I'll end up with his crick in the neck from sitting around knitting all night," Owen smirked. "Which is worse?"

"I don't knit!" Ianto huffed, looking offended.

"Bet you did latch-hook as a kid," Owen muttered under his breath.

"Oh, is that how you got that kitten pillow on your sofa?" Ianto replied. Tosh grinned as Gwen laughed at the sniping.

"Boys!" she said. "Stop it! Tosh knows what she's talking about so we'll all stay here until it's solved. Right?"

"I'll make it priority," Tosh told them. "Jack said we could all go home early since the Rift is quiet, but we'll figure it out first and you can go your separate ways as soon as we reverse it. I'm thinking we have to somehow disrupt the method of communication it's enabled between your nerve endings." She paused. "Assuming that's how it works, of course."

Owen rolled his eyes and stomped over to the couch, finishing his beer. Ianto rubbed his chest again and sighed.

"Are you sure we have to reverse it to leave?" he said softly, leaning toward Tosh and lowering his voice. "I have a date tonight."

"That's great!" Tosh exclaimed, then frowned as she realized the implication. "Oh no, I'm so sorry, Ianto, but I really don't think you should go, unless you want to take Owen."

"Take him where?" asked Gwen, appearing once more. "Ianto, did you say have a date? Really?"

He nodded, and then Owen was back with a smirk.

"You're taking the piss. You don't want to hang out here all night." Tosh felt bad for Ianto, but he didn't flinch in embarrassment at all.

Ianto shook his head. "No, I have a date. Reservations for dinner, tickets to a show, that sort of thing."

"Where are you going?" asked Tosh.

"Who are you seeing?" asked Gwen.

"Are you sleeping with them?" asked Owen. "Because that could be interesting."

"Owen!" Tosh exclaimed. Gwen and Ianto stared at him, one in surprise, one in disgust. Why were they all shocked? It was Owen, after all.

"What?" Owen asked. "Getting it off without a condom and all the awkward social niceties? Sounds good to me."

"You're disgusting," Tosh murmured, turning back to Ianto, who still looked slightly appalled.

"I don't even want to think about what my night would be like if you went on the pull," Ianto said. Owen smirked.

"You really don't."

"Tosh?" asked Ianto, turning back to her with a pleading look on his face. "Are you sure I need to stay here with _him_?"

"I'm sorry, Ianto," she said, and she really was. "I think it's for the best."

"What's for the best?" asked Jack, stepping out of his office with a broad smile on his face.

"Nothing," said Ianto with a sigh. "Just Torchwood getting in the way of actually having a life again." He turned and started for the coffee maker, shoulders slumped as he muttered under his breath.

"That sounds about normal," noted Jack with an exaggerated nod. "So what'd I miss? Find anything good on that retrieval?"

Everyone was silent. Tosh went back to studying the device, Owen snorted and avoided looking at anyone, and Gwen tried to hide a smile as she stared at the floor.

"Seriously," said Jack, sounding more concerned. "What's going on?"

Tosh glanced at Gwen, who looked at Owen, who shrugged. Gwen promptly reached over and pinched him hard. There was a yelp and a crash from the coffee maker.

"What was that for?" asked Ianto, rubbing his arm as he stomped back toward them. "Or did you want me to drop your coffee all over the floor?"

Tosh reached out and smacked Ianto across his arse. He yelped again, and it was immediately echoed by Owen, who swore as he rubbed his backside.

"Sorry," Tosh replied. "Just making a point."

"Oh," said Jack, eyes wide as he stared at the two men. "Oh wow."

It sounded like Jack knew what was going on. "Do you know what this is?" Tosh asked, holding up the device that she'd been studying. "Apparently Owen bopped it and now they're stuck like this." Jack took it and turned it over in his hands before handing it back with a shake of his head.

"I've never seen something like this before, no," he replied. Owen swore under his breath and even Gwen looked disappointed. "But I've heard of things like this happening." He paused and grinned. "Usually on Star Trek or something."

"So you don't know how to reverse it?" Ianto asked, his voice neutral. "Because Tosh thinks Owen and I need to stay at the Hub until we figure this out. Together. Tonight."

"Tonight?" asked Jack.

"Tonight," repeated Ianto with a very pointed look. Tosh had the distinct impression he was implying more than he was saying.

Jack opened his mouth, apparently thought better of it, then turned toward Tosh. "Why?" he asked. She was confused by his response.

"We don't know how they're connected, Jack," she replied. "What if it gets worse with distance?"

"What if it gets better?" Jack countered.

"What if Owen gets drunk?" asked Gwen.

"What if Ianto gets lucky?" Owen muttered and mimed an exaggerated shudder. Jack's eyebrows about flew off his face.

"Planning on getting lucky later?" he asked Ianto with a broad grin. Ianto rolled his eyes, but seemed to be holding back a smirk.

"Good chance. I do have a date tonight," he pointed out, sounding as if he were reminding Jack of the fact. Jack's face fell.

"That's right," he murmured. "Orsino's?" he asked. Apparently he already knew about Ianto's plans.

Ianto nodded. "And the show after."

"Chicago, right?"

"Rave reviews," Ianto replied, holding Jack's gaze. Jack nodded slowly.

"Damn," he said. "You could always take Owen, I suppose."

Ianto's eyes slipped closed with a groan as Owen protested.

"No way, I'm not tagging along on some lame prom date," he said. "If I can't hit the pub, he can't get off on some prison musical."

Gwen glanced at him. "Didn't know you followed musical theater, Owen."

"Bite me," he snapped.

"I believe Ianto already did," Gwen replied, and burst into giggles at the look on Jack's face.

"All right, this is getting old," Owen said. "I'm not spending the night here. Ianto, with me. We're running some tests. Tosh, figure that thing out. Jack, if you know anything that could help that you didn't see on television, please remember it."

He turned toward the medical bay. "What about me, Owen?" Gwen called. "What can I do to help?"

"Get the tickets changed?" Ianto asked immediately, then shook his head in embarassment. "Sorry, it's just that they were expensive and…" He coughed. "I think my date was looking forward to it."

Gwen patted him on the arm. "I can try, sweetheart," she said. "We're Torchwood, right? That should work for something. I'll walk over, talk to the box office right now."

"That would be great, Gwen," Jack replied, earning a surprised look from Gwen. "Where are the tickets?" he asked. Ianto opened his mouth, shut it, glanced upward, frowned, then nodded as if remembering something.

"I think I might have left them in your…er, folder in your office," he eventually replied. "I'll go check."

He ducked his head and hurried toward Jack's office, everyone watching. Jack was the first to turn back toward the others. "Well, we have a working plan. I'll head down to the archives and try to track down some of the references I've come across to these sorts of things. Send Ianto down to help when he's finished up here, yeah?"

Jack left and Tosh nodded absently, turning back to work on the device. Ianto came out of Jack's office looking slightly flustered, glancing around before settling on Gwen. He hurried over and handed her the tickets. "Thanks, Gwen. I appreciate it."

"No problem, sweetheart," she said, grabbing her jacket. "It's the least I can do when Torchwood messes up your love life."

Ianto shook his head. "Um, it's not like that. Just a date. That's all."

"But not your first, right?" asked Gwen coyly.

"No, not the first," said Ianto, heading toward the medical bay. "Few more than that."

"Ianto!" she exclaimed. "But that's wonderful! What have you been doing?"

Ianto coughed as if slightly embarrassed. "The usual. Dinner, movie, bit of pool at my local. Went out to Pennarth one night. Show tonight—well, not any more."

Gwen positively simpered. "I think it's great that you've found the time to see someone outside of work."

"Yes, well, we all have a bit more free time with Jack back on the rota we started, don't we?" he replied. Gwen followed him over to the medical bay, leaning over the railing while he went down to see Owen.

"So how long has it been then?" she asked. "And why haven't you said anything?"

"Oh, maybe two months or so?" Ianto replied. "And it's early days, you know how it is."

"What's her name?" asked Gwen with her gap-toothed grin, and Ianto rolled his eyes.

"Private," he said. "Owen, what do you need?"

"I need Gwen to stop badgering you with questions we all know you won't answer," he said. Gwen stuck her tongue out and Owen returned the feeling with a gesture of his own. "Let's do a blood draw first, get it over with."

"Do I get to stick you with a needle after?" Ianto drawled, and Owen looked at him in surprise. "You were affected too."

"And I can do my own draw on my left arm," the doctor replied. "No way am I letting you anywhere near me with a needle."

"I feel the same way," Ianto muttered. "But I don't have any choice. At least you'll feel your lack of bedside manners."

Owen stopped with the needle in midair. "That's right. Damn."

Gwen laughed above them. "Have fun boys," she said. "I'll do my best with the tickets." She glanced down, then frowned. "Ianto, these have Jack's name on them."

Ianto's head snapped up. "Oh, yes—well. He picked them up…he had some connections, gets a discount of some sort. Maybe he has a subscription or something."

Owen laughed out loud. "Of course Jack has a subscription to the musical series. Why am I not surprised."

Gwen was still frowning, but finally shrugged and left the Hub. Owen drew blood from them both, which meant twice as much muttering and swearing. After some more scans and a basic check-up, Owen declared Ianto as normal as ever and kicked him out while he ran their blood tests. Tosh sent Ianto down to the archives to help Jack find anything that could help and went back to concentrating on the strange device that had somehow connected her coworkers.

* * *

Author's Note:

Another mini-adventure in technology for Owen and Ianto! It follows in the style of 'Speaking in Tongues' and 'Captain, Tailor, Tinker, Spy', but is probably set before them, early in season two. I started this a long time ago so it's just about done. There are a few more parts, with the POV rotating between team members and the tone growing a bit more serious. Reviews are love! Enjoy!


	2. 2: Processing

2: Processing

Owen eyed the test results one more time, trying to find something, anything that would explain the connection between him and Ianto and show him how to break it. Everything was normal: physical exam, blood tests, even their brain scans were normal. He sighed, tired and frustrated, and ran a hand through his hair, feeling a bit peaky. Sort of hot and bothered, as if the heat had been cranked up too high. His lips felt tingly, and then his throat, only it was the skin of his throat that was sensitive and itchy, not the inside, like a sore throat would feel if he was getting sick. He tugged at his collar, then at his pants.

Wait, his pants? They were uncomfortable, tight and growing tighter. He wondered if he was coming down with the stomach flu, until a sharp twinge around his nipples almost doubled him over. An alarming sensation near his ear had him swiping at his head, then moaning as he felt something like invisible fingers in his hair and along his jaw, trailing down his back and landing on his arse.

His cock twitched and, with a virulent swear, Owen realized what was going on.

"Tosh!" he yelled, trying not to sound breathless because he wasn't, he really wasn't. He put all thoughts of what he was physically feeling out of his mind. "Get Ianto up here now. Immediately. As in it's an emergency."

"Owen?" she called. "Is everything all right?"

"Now, Tosh!" he yelled. He bit back a groan as his dick jumped again. It took all of his will power not to reach down and undo his trousers. Instead he crossed his legs and forced himself to think of anything but what was obviously going on somewhere downstairs. He hoped Ianto got the message and stopped before they were both embarrassed. Not that Owen ever wanted to look Ianto in the face again. So the guy wouldn't get to go on his date. Ianto knew full well Owen would feel it all if he went off for a wank to relieve his disappointment. How desperate was the man?

And did he really run his hands through his own hair and fondle his chest when he had it off with himself? Who did that? When Owen needed relief, he took himself in hand, pictured the last bird he'd shagged, and had a quick tug. In private. That Ianto would do it right there with the rest of them around was pathetic. He was probably tucked away in the bathroom, the one they all used. At least save it for the shower, where the evidence could be washed away.

It was then that he remembered Ianto had been heading toward the archives to look for more information about the device. To help _Jack_ look for more information about the device. And suddenly it made more sense, and Owen's eyes went wide as he realized what was really going on downstairs. Fortunately, he wasn't feeling it anymore, which meant they'd stopped. Owen closed his eyes and took several deep breaths, willing his erection away before Ianto showed up.

There was a cough from the stairs and Ianto stood there, his hair mussed up but looking surprisingly pulled together otherwise. Yet Owen knew, and he suspected he'd find a few love bites on the man's neck if he checked. When Jack appeared at the railing still straightening his braces, Owen's suspicions were confirmed.

"Did you find something?" asked Ianto, sounding slightly nervous. Jack appeared concerned and joined them in the medical bay. Owen crossed his arms over his chest and nodded.

"Yeah, I found myself rather hot and bothered," he said. Ianto's eyes slipped closed, but Jack grinned.

"Nice," he said. Ianto did not react so Owen continued.

"At first I thought you were having a wank," —Ianto's eyes flew open in mortification—"and I really wondered about your solo technique, but then I realized it wasn't solo, was it?" There was a squeak from somewhere from around Tosh's desk; Owen was glad Gwen was gone.

"Oops," said Jack, apparently sticking to one-word answers. This time Ianto threw him a dirty look, and not in a good way.

"Owen, I—"

Owen held up a hand. "Please, I really don't want to know. We just talked about this, but you still had to go and got yourself felt up?"

"We were sort of hoping the connection would be shielded in the archives," Ianto murmured. "And maybe weakened by the distance."

"And yet now I can never unsee what I've seen," Owen replied. "Or in this messed up job, unfeel what I felt. Seriously. Keep it in your pants. I don't want to go through that ever again."

"Thought you were keen on the idea, Owen?" asked Jack.

"Not when it involves my boss and—" Owen bit back his reply. "Never mind. Just lay off until we disconnect, yeah?"

"Sorry, Owen," Ianto replied.

"Yeah, yeah," Owen waved him away. "Besides, didn't you have a date later—oh."

Ianto's eyes had gone wide again; Jack was grinning once more.

"No," said Owen. "No way." His voice cracked, but he ignored it. "Two months? Dinner and a show? You?" He pointed at Ianto, then Jack. "And you?"

"Owen, please!" Ianto exclaimed. "It's not what you think!"

"You don't want to know what I think!" Owen replied, even though he had no idea what to think. Jack and Ianto shagging in the archives was one thing; Jack and Ianto going on romantic dates was quite another.

"I do," said Jack. "Because you're probably wrong." Ianto threw him another look, but Jack shook his head.

"What?" Jack said. "He felt my hands down your pants, it's a little late for discretion. So yes, that was us down in the archives, yes, we were supposed to go out tonight, and yes, we've been dating for the past two months."

Owen stared at them, then shook his head as something else occurred to him. "Oh, the girls are going to go spare."

"Already there!" Tosh called from her desk. "And loving it. Congratulations, you two. Who wants to tell Gwen?"

"Oh god," muttered Ianto, sitting on the bottom step and letting his head fall into his hands.

"It's none of her business," said Jack. Ianto rolled his eyes as Owen laughed at Jack's naïve hope.

"Of course it is," Owen said. "Besides the fact that she works here and we happen to be a small team, she's not going to—"

Ianto stood up. "Stop. I don't want to even think about it, we'll tell her later. Right now, I'd just like to recover some shred of my dignity and get disconnected, all right? So I can actually, you know, finish next time."

Tosh giggled and Owen pretended to gag. The door alarms went off and a voice piped up. "Finish what?"

Ianto's eyes slipped closed again with a curse. Owen, Jack, and even Tosh burst out laughing.

* * *

"Seriously, what did I miss?" asked Gwen, peering down at them from the railing. Everyone was silent. Jack glanced worriedly at Ianto, who looked like he wanted to melt into the floor. Gwen was frowning at them, but before she could say anything else, Owen spoke.

"Get the tickets changed for loverboy?" he asked with a smirk. Ianto started shaking his head. Jack mouthed the doctor's name, hoping the man was smart enough not to beard the Welsh dragon in the medical bay. The look on Owen's face was a hard call, however; it could go either way.

Gwen smiled and pulled out two tickets. "They were quite happy to accommodate the charming Captain Harkness," she said. "Which means you've got two new seats for Sunday night, Ianto."

"Thanks Gwen," said Ianto. "Could you set them on my desk?"

"Don't thank me, thank Jack," she laughed. "His good name got you and your date front row seats in the center balcony! I hope she appreciates it!"

Jack watched as Tosh showed up next to Gwen and grinned, while snickered out loud. Ianto was pointedly ignoring them all. Jack cleared his throat. He was going for it before Owen did. He had ways of making it up to Ianto, after all—ways that Owen clearly did not.

"I'm his date," Jack said. "Or rather, he's my date for the show, and I'm his date for dinner." He nodded at Gwen before turning toward Ianto. Expecting angry eyes or even a furious denial, Jack was surprised when Ianto's lips curled up in the smallest of smiles. Jack knew then that he had made the right call. They hadn't been outed by Owen in some crass, tasteless joke, and Jack had told Gwen himself, without being flippant.

"What?" she asked, a nervous laugh betraying her surprise. "You're going to the show with Ianto?" Jack nodded, waiting for the moment it clicked. "But Ianto said he'd been seeing someone for almost two months. Dinner, movies, pool. Why would he be going to the show with…" She trailed off, her eyes wide. "Oh."

"That's exactly what I said!" Owen crowed. Ianto's head fell toward his chest as if in defeat, and Jack moved toward him with concern. He hoped Ianto wasn't upset after all. They'd been keeping their dates quiet, in part to avoid any awkwardness at work, and in part because they were still working through things themselves—Ianto's betrayal, Jack's disappearance, both of their skittish attitudes toward relationships.

"Hey," he said softly, stepping closer. "I'm not trying to embarrass you or anything."

"I know," Ianto replied, meeting his eyes. "Staking your claim, perhaps?"

"And yours," Jack replied. "They deserve to know. We sort of blew it downstairs, after all."

Ianto's lips quirked to the side. Jack rolled his eyes. "Not _that_ way, but you know what I mean."

"Ugh, we all know what you mean now, Harkness," said Owen.

"What do you mean?" asked Gwen from above them, still sounding confused.

"I mean, Ianto and I had a date planned for tonight," said Jack, turning back toward her. "Dinner and a show. But since we haven't figured out how to disconnect him and Owen, we can't go."

"Didn't stop you from finding something else to do," Owen said. He exchanged a look with Tosh and they laughed again. Gwen was still watching the scene with her patented wide-eyed look of surprise. Sometimes Jack wondered how she could miss so much with such big eyes. Tosh leaned in closer and spoke in a stage-whisper.

"They got frisky in the archives. Maybe we can get the details from Owen later."

Gwen whirled on her. "Why would Owen know the details—oh."

"Apparently it's the word of the day," Ianto murmured, and Jack laughed.

"Seems to be. Now, where are we on this device?" He tried to steer the conversation back toward something more useful, hoping to avoid embarrassing Ianto any more, but Gwen, being Gwen, wouldn't let it go.

"Wait, so if you and Ianto were planning on going on a date tonight…what does that mean?" Jack bristled, but Ianto put a hand on his arm. He was surprised, because he'd been ready to defend Ianto, but apparently Ianto wanted to speak up for them both.

"It means we were planning on going on a date tonight, but we'll have to go Sunday instead," said Ianto, sounding both exasperated and annoyed. "We went on one last week and the week before, and as long as the world doesn't end we'll probably go out in another week or two."

"You still want to?" Jack asked, feeling relieved. For some reason, he'd been terrified that Ianto would decide to stop being with him if the others knew about it. It was a ridiculous fear, he knew, but he also knew Ianto's insecurity when it came to their relationship at the moment; it wasn't that much different than his own.

"You're actually dating-dating?" Gwen asked, but everyone ignored her.

"Yeah," said Ianto with a small smile, his hands slipping into his pockets as he inclined his head toward the others. "This doesn't change anything."

"Why would it?" asked Owen. "Now we can take the piss out of both of you."

"You've been dating for two months and you didn't say anything?" asked Gwen. For some reason she was only looking at Jack, as if he was obligated to share the details of his love life with her. He thought he understood some of Ianto's frustration. Tosh gave Gwen a gentle push with her elbow, and she shook herself out of whatever strange daze she'd been in.

"And that's exactly why," Jack drawled. "Nice reactions, people. Tosh, burn the footage for me?"

"Absolutely," she laughed.

"Jack—" Gwen started again, and this time Tosh stepped on her foot, stopping her from embarrassing them any more. Jack loved her direct approach.

"Back to work," said Jack, ignoring Gwen. "Let's figure this out, people."

"Yeah, I don't want to feel Jack's hands in my pants ever again," Owen muttered. Tosh burst out laughing, but before Jack could offer a comeback - _And here I thought you enjoyed it_ or maybe _Your loss, doctor_ \- Ianto cleared his throat.

"Maybe you'd prefer to feel his—"

"Stop!" yelled Owen, covering his ears. "Or I'll have to Retcon myself."

"Your loss, doctor," Ianto murmured.

"That's what I was going to say!" Jack whispered loudly. Ianto shared a private smile with him, and Jack knew it was going to be okay—that the team knew, that Owen would give them a hard time, that Gwen…well. That might still be awkward, though Jack couldn't articulate exactly why.

They all went their separate ways, though Owen suggested Gwen go down to the archives with Ianto instead of Jack, so that Ianto couldn't get up to any 'hanky-panky' down below. Ianto held out his arm for Gwen. "Says who?" he offered. Gwen looked slightly scandalized until Ianto whispered something to her. He turned as they headed toward the archives and threw them all a wink.

Owen groaned, while Jack felt a brief burst of confusion until he realized Ianto was playing them. Heading up to his office to continue his research, Jack tried to remember where he'd heard of something similar happening. He was starting to wonder if it had been at Torchwood, or if it had been during his tenure with the Time Agency. Then again, maybe he really had seen it on a television show. Hopefully some time in his office to go through more files would help bring the memory to light.

It was less than an hour later that the Rift alarm went off. Something had come through near Fairwater, and according to the readings, it was alive.

"Damn," said Jack, chewing on his thumb. He called Ianto and Gwen back up, and to his surprise, they were walking close and laughing about something. Apparently Gwen had got over her surprise that her two coworkers were dating. They stopped immediately when they saw the serious look on Jack's face.

"We've got a Rift alert," he told them. "Tosh and Owen, I want you to keep working on the situation with that device and help coordinate from the Hub. Gwen, Ianto, you're with me."

"What about—" started Tosh, looking between Owen and Ianto, but Jack shook his head.

"We'll have to chance it," he said. "I doubt distance is going to hurt them."

"Tosh said we should stick together, know what the other is doing," said Owen. "Which means I should go, and Gwen can stay to coordinate while Tosh keeps working on the device."

This time Jack shook his head. "No, because if one of you gets hurt, it could put the other at risk in the field and leave me with no back up. So one goes, one stays."

Owen swore under his breath while Ianto frowned. "Then perhaps Owen should go, while I coordinate. I can continue to look through the archives—"

"No," Jack said sharply. "If he gets hurt, he can't help anyone else."

"Bullshit," said Owen. "You've never kept me back for that reason before."

"I am now," Jack snapped. He knew he was pulling the boss card, but he couldn't help it. It made sense to leave one of them behind, given that if one of them were compromised or injured in the field, the other would be affected as well. It also made sense for Ianto to remain at the Hub to keep researching, given his knowledge of the archives. Yet for some reason, Jack wanted Ianto with him, not back at the Hub experiencing everything that happened to Owen. "Keep working on the link between them. I want it broken so that next time I don't have to worry about sending you two out together."

"Jack, I can work on it from here," Ianto insisted.

"With me, Ianto," Jack said, his voice firm. "Get your gear. We leave in five."

Ianto simply raised an eyebrow at him, but Jack could tell he was upset. "Yes, sir," he said in a clear but cutting voice, and turned to leave without another word. Gwen opened her mouth, but Jack held up a hand.

"Final decision, Gwen. Be ready." He turned on her and hurried to his office, grabbing his coat and his gun before he hurried toward the car park alone, determined to wait for Gwen and Ianto there.

Ianto was flushed with anger when he met them at the SUV. He went straight to the back and pulled up the computer, ignoring Jack. Gwen gave him a questioning look but didn't say anything, and the tension in the car grew thick enough to cut with a sonic knife. He knew he'd been short with Ianto, but he needed Ianto with him, not back at the Hub and subject to feeling whatever Owen got up to. If keeping Ianto safe meant a few hours of the Welshman being pissed off with him, that was all right with Jack. It would be worth it.

* * *

Author's Note

Of course I was going there, you didn't doubt it, did you? Hope you enjoyed that. I love writing something about the team finding out and this seemed like a fun way. One more part, hopefully next week (although it's getting a bit long and serious so maybe I'll split it.) Thank you for reading and reviewing!


	3. 3: Output

3: Output

Gwen wasn't sure what was worse: the uncomfortable drive to the site, or the forced interaction between Jack and Ianto once they arrived. They'd been silent for the entire ride, but now had to work together as they searched the empty park for whatever had come through the Rift.

"Area should be secure," Ianto said, looking and speaking to Gwen. She nodded, uncomfortable with the tension. "Tosh said several small life forms are alive but not moving out of position." He glanced down at the PDA in his hands and gestured forward. "Over by the swings, about."

Gwen glanced from him to Jack but neither said anything. Ianto was staring at his PDA and Jack was staring at Ianto. With a huff, Gwen rolled her eyes and set off across the park, hoping they would follow. They started arguing behind her.

"I can take care of myself, you know," Ianto murmured. She heard Jack sigh in response.

"I know that, and even more importantly, I believe it."

"Then why the show of machismo?" There was a snort. "Unless I'm actually the dispensable one and you're more worried about Owen."

"Jesus, Ianto! I'm just trying to protect you!"

"And as I've tried to demonstrate to apparently little effect, I am in fact capable of protecting myself in the field, sir."

"Please don't call me that." Another sigh. "I just…" Gwen wanted to turn around so badly to see the look on their faces as they argued—were the angry, upset, sad?—but knew she'd be invading their privacy. As she'd already screwed up with her not-so-brilliant-and-completely-unsupportive reaction to the fact that they had been dating for two months right under everyone's nose, she didn't want to make things worse. She had a hundred questions, but she'd have to settle for gossiping about it with Tosh and Owen later.

"You what, Jack?" asked Ianto, sounding exasperated. "You don't trust me because of this tech screw up? Is that it?"

"Of course not!" There was a short silence in which Gwen could imagine them both staring awkwardly ahead, searching for aliens and refusing to look at one another while they argued. "It's just…I don't want something to happen to you when I can't be there," he let out in a rush. "If Owen were here and something happened, you'd feel it back at the Hub and I couldn't be there to do anything about it!"

It was Ianto's turn to sigh now. "I don't need you to kiss my skinned knees, Jack."

"But I want to, especially with this," Jack said. "I…well, I blew it at the warehouse and I don't want that to happen again."

Gwen couldn't help but turn around at that. Jack must have been referring to the warehouse where Rhys had been shot, but that had been weeks ago. What had he done wrong that he felt he needed to atone for?

Fortunately, Jack and Ianto had stopped and were looking anywhere but at her, so they didn't notice her staring. Ianto ran a hand through his hair while Jack toed the ground like a schoolboy. It was really rather adorable when she thought about it, the awkwardness of it.

"Jack, you did your job and I did mine. And I'd like to think I did a decent job—"

"You were amazing!"

"Then trust me to rise to the occasion should it ever happen again," Ianto said dryly. "You can't protect us all the time."

"I wasn't really talking about that," Jack said, his voice so quiet Gwen could barely hear him. "I was talking about after."

They stared at one another for a long moment, before Ianto happened to glance her way and caught her watching. He shook his head and motioned Jack forward, and Gwen knew she'd probably never find out what they were talking about. She opened her mouth to ask if everything was all right, but Jack grinned as he passed her and took the lead.

"Let's find these things and get back, yeah? Nice quiet night with Rhys?"

Ianto rolled his eyes as he walked by, and Gwen followed, confused at the exchange and the sudden change in mood. It didn't take long to focus, however, as Jack strode toward the swings and apparently found what they were looking for.

"Oooh," he said, stopping several feet away and putting his hands on his hips. "Look what the Rift brought us today." He crouched down and frowned.

Underneath the swings was what appeared to be some sort of nest, with equally unidentifiable creatures mewling inside. They looked like a cross between a fox and a baby chick: small, fluffy, with whiskers and wings and an extremely long tail, there were at least ten of them wriggling in a large ball, and the stench was unbelievable.

"Whoa," said Ianto, coming up behind Jack. "That's ripe. What are they?"

"They're called pullpes," Jack replied, standing up and shaking his head. "Sort of an exotic housepet on their native planet, but not something we want catching on with the kids here."

"Obviously," Ianto murmured. "Looks aside, the odor alone could kill."

Jack glanced at him in concern. "You're not far off the mark," he said. "We need to get these contained quickly, then torch the area."

"What?" Gwen exclaimed, stepping forward while covering her nose. "You must be joking, Jack. They might smell bad, but that's no reason to burn down the playground!"

"I wish I were. The odor comes from an oil secreted in their skin. They're a bit like civet cats, they release it when threatened, and even the smallest amount of contact can result in third degree burns."

"Speaking from experience?" Ianto asked.

"Saw it in a safety video," Jack replied. Gwen wasn't sure if he was kidding or not and decided it didn't matter.

"What do we do with them, then?"

Jack sighed and turned toward her. "I'm afraid they're really not safe for earth. On their home planet, they're perfectly safe, but here they're too dangerous. We can't handle them without a high risk of injury. The oil can burn though nasal passages and protective gear alike."

"Put to sleep first, then?" Ianto asked. Gwen opened her mouth to protest but Jack spoke first.

"Owen can do it quickly and without any pain."

"Jack, we can't just—"

"There's nothing else we can do, Gwen," he said, and he even tried to sound gentle. "They're babies, for one, and we don't know how to raise them, what to feed them. And they're still deadly to humans."

Ianto had been scanning the nest. "Especially when there's some sort of bomb hidden beneath them."

Gwen instinctively took a step backward as Jack whirled and glanced over Ianto's shoulder. "What?"

Ianto pointed to the PDA. "That's not a living energy signature as far as I can tell."

Jack stared at the nest. "Shit. It's a Trojan horse. Get back to the SUV and grab whatever you can find for dealing with a bomb." He tapped his earpiece. "Tosh, we're going to need some help on this one, can you get your bomb gloves out?"

"My what?" Gwen heard over the coms. Ianto was frowning at his PDA, which made her take another step back.

"Jack, I'm not sure if we have time to get her out here," he started. There was an ominous clicking sound from the nest, followed by an increase in the crying and mewling of the pullpes.

Jack swore under his breath. "You might be right. Can you tell how big it is?"

"The pullpes?" asked Ianto, his voice cracking. Gwen had rarely seen him rattled, but apparently standing next to a civet cat bomb was unnerving even for him. "Of course not, you mean the bomb. I'm not sure about the readings." He held out the PDA but took a step backwards; Gwen took another, looking longingly toward the SUV and wondering when Jack would tell them to run.

Jack glanced down, toward the nest, back down, and up at Ianto. "Not bad, but it'll leave a mark. Good thing the park is already cleared. We should—"

He didn't get to finish as the nest exploded with a deafening crash. Gwen felt a body slam her to the ground and cover her head as dirt and debris rained down around them. She closed her eyes and waited for it to end. Finally lifting her throbbing head, she saw two bodies lying nearby amongst the dust and debris.

"Jack?" she called. "Ianto?"

Neither responded.

* * *

Jack gasped back to consciousness with a feeling of deep dread. He'd been through a lot with his team, but standing next to a bomb when it went off was not one of them, and it wasn't something he'd wanted to tick off his list; he'd just come back to them and couldn't stand the thought of losing one of them already. Pain lanced through his body, but Jack forced himself to breathe through it and sit up. He almost wished he hadn't; his leg was clearly broken, and bones knitting back together were particularly grotesque to watch. At least it would be quick. Glancing around, he looked frantically for Ianto and Gwen.

The immediate area was a disaster. Where the nest of pullpes had been was nothing but a large hole in the ground. The swings were completely gone, and most of the other playground equipment was destroyed as well. The grass was burnt into a large circle; it hadn't been a big bomb, but they'd been close, and sometimes the shrapnel and debris could do more damage than the blast itself.

He saw Gwen and Ianto not far from him, close enough to crawl toward on hands and knees quickly healing from dozens of cuts and scrapes. Gwen was conscious but appeared dazed, with blood and dirt everywhere. She was crouching next to a prone Ianto, running her hand over his face and shouting into her mobile phone.

"I can't hear you, Tosh!" she yelled. "A bomb went off and Jack is injured and Ianto is unconscious and I can't hear anything—"

Jack grabbed the phone from her. "Tosh? Stop civil services from arriving and get UNIT here for cleanup immediately. We don't know what that bomb was and there were definitely alien life forms involved that we don't want anyone talking about." He paused, glad his hearing was healing quickly, but still listening closely as Tosh interrupted him.

"Owen's unconscious, Jack. Did something happen to Ianto? Gwen was shouting too loud for me to understand anything."

Jack swore. Gwen stared at him, her face confused and worried.

"He's hurt, but I don't know how bad," Jack said to Tosh. "We were pretty close to the bomb. He's unconscious and there's a lot of blood." Gwen pointed to Ianto's right arm, which was covered in blood.

"They're obviously still connected," Tosh said, sounding frustrated. There was a pause; Jack could hear computer keys clicking away in the background. "All right, I've alerted UNIT and put a stop on calls to the fire and police. There will be crowds, though."

This was when Jack wished he had a bigger team. Tosh was at the Hub coordinating help, Owen was unconscious along with an injured Ianto, and Gwen couldn't hear a thing. He couldn't hold back a crowd while directing UNIT, especially when all he wanted to do was take care of Ianto. Gwen shouted at him.

"I think it's his arm!" she said. Jack couldn't help but roll his eyes at her before turning his attention back to Ianto. He had more than enough field training to examine the Welshman; Ianto didn't appear to have any broken bones, but Jack couldn't see how deep the wound on his arm was, nor assess any internal injuries. And he couldn't rule out a concussion as well, given Ianto's state of unconsciousness. Fortunately, Ianto helped with that and groaned loudly as he opened his eyes.

"Everyone okay?" he rasped. He struggled to sit up, and though Jack wanted to push him back down, he helped him sit, deciding he could better gauge Ianto's condition if the man was functioning vertically.

"Ten fingers, ten toes," Jack replied. "How about you?"

Ianto stared at him in confusion, clearly unable to hear anything. Jack resorted to some made up sign language and pointed at Ianto's head while making an unhappy face. Ianto understood immediately.

"Hurts a lot," he said, talking loudly. Jack pointed to other parts of his body and Ianto shook his head, indicating he was all right, until Jack got to his right arm. Ianto hissed and gingerly lifted it for Jack to examine. There was a large jagged wound on the back of his upper arm, almost across his shoulder, probably from shrapnel. Jack couldn't see anything in it, but from the amount of blood still seeping down Ianto's back and arm, he decided a light tourniquet wouldn't be out of place. Taking off Ianto's tie, he wrapped it around the man's upper arm and then helped him to stand.

Ianto's first steps were tentative, and Jack grabbed him around the waist to support him. Ianto gasped with pain again, and when Jack pointed to his left side, Ianto nodded and grimaced, indicating an injury near his upper chest. Unfortunately, Jack could not see anything; there was a strong possibility Ianto was suffering from internal injuries. Which meant getting him back to the Hub immediately, if not the hospital. Yet they needed to deal with any locals that showed up first, as well as UNIT.

"Can you hear me yet?" Jack asked. Ianto stared at his lips and nodded; Jack wasn't sure if he was actually hearing again or lip reading. If it was the latter, Jack was definitely going to have a chat with him about yet another hidden talent. "Let's get you back to the SUV. As soon as UNIT arrives and Gwen can hear again—"

"What?" asked Gwen, obviously hearing her name and nothing else.

"—I'll take you back to the Hub, okay?" Ianto sighed and nodded, holding his arm gingerly against his left side. Jack settled him into the SUV and added a blanket, earning him a raised eyebrow, but with a smile and a kiss he shut the door and turned to Gwen.

"Let's see what we find before UNIT gets here," he said, speaking loudly. She must have understood for she turned back toward the crater. Jack stopped her. "Are you all right?" he asked.

"Ianto pushed me down and shielded me," she said, still speaking louder than usual. "I feel like I got hit by a truck, but I'm okay."

Heading closer toward the epicenter of the bomb, Jack realized they were lucky it hadn't been any bigger, or none of them would have been up and walking. The park was a wreck, and Jack suspected any obvious evidence of extraterrestrial origins had been destroyed. Still, it couldn't hurt to be extra careful when it came to alien technology, not to mention alien life forms like the pullpes. Remembering the bomb had been placed in the center of their nest, Jack stopped Gwen from going any closer. She looked at him quizzically.

"We don't know what the bomb was," he said. "And the pullpes are now blown to bits. We should have containment suits if we're going to wander around."

Gwen frowned, obviously still a bit confused after being thrown down by Ianto and the bomb. She looked around the park as if trying to find something to do. "Let's set up a perimeter," Jack suggested. He hated leaving Ianto in the car while they waited for UNIT—hell, he hated waiting for UNIT—but there was nothing to be done about it. Torchwood did what they had to do.

They had to clear a few pedestrians from the scene, but fortunately UNIT showed up quicker than Jack had anticipated. After briefing them on the situation, he left Gwen to coordinate with them while he returned to the Hub with Ianto. The Welshman's arm had stopped bleeding, but he was pale and listless, slumped in his seat with his arm still wrapped around his left side, asleep or unconscious. Jack prodded him awake.

"Can you hear me now?" he asked as they pulled away.

Ianto rolled his eyes; that was a good sign. "Of course I can. You don't have to shout."

"Bomb went off," Jack offered. "Messes with your hearing, especially when you're practically standing on it."

Ianto shuddered and let his eyes slip closed. "I'd rather not do that again, that's for sure," he said. Jack reached over and took his free hand, which was cold and clammy. He squeezed tight, hoping Ianto was still with him.

"Me neither," he said softly. "It's a good thing you noticed it when you did, or we'd be gone the way of the pullpes."

Ianto was quiet for a long moment. When Jack glanced over, the other man was watching him with a strange look on his face. "What?" he asked.

"Could you come back from it?" Ianto asked. "From a bomb?"

"I was injured several times during the war and made it through," Jack pointed out. Ianto shook his head, then grimaced at the pain.

"No, I mean if it really got you. To…to pieces. What would happen?" He sounded both morbidly curious and horrified, which was exactly how Jack felt about it as well.

"I don't know," Jack finally replied. "And I'd rather not find out. That was close enough for me. Broke my leg, you know."

Ianto offered him a small smile before glancing out the window. "And now you're good as new."

"And you will be too," Jack said, squeezing his hand again. "As soon as we get back to the Hub and Owen can look you over."

"Owen!" Ianto exclaimed, turning too suddenly and groaning. "But we're still connected. Did he feel it? Have you heard from the Hub, talked to Tosh?"

"Yes," Jack said. "And he's fine, he's not actually injured, he's just feeling what you're feeling. Tosh said he grabbed his arm and lost consciousness, probably about the same time you did. He should be up and about now."

"And sporting a massive headache," Ianto grumbled.

"Then he'll be twice as motivated to patch you up," Jack replied, trying to stay cheerful. He was worried about the way Ianto was still holding his side. It could be broken ribs, but it could be worse, and Jack hoped Owen was on his feet and clear-headed enough to be able to help.

He drove back to the Hub as fast as he could without jostling Ianto, then helped him inside. The Welshman's breathing was starting to falter by the time they reached the medical bay; he was almost gasping, his lips turning blue.

Owen wasn't much better off. He swore when he saw Jack practically carrying Ianto down the steps, helping him lay Ianto down on the hard bed in the center of the room and immediately strapping on an oxygen mask.

"I really wish Tosh would figure that thing out," Owen grumbled as he set about hooking Ianto up to an IV and several monitors. "This is not how I like treating patients, feeling every symptom they have. Especially when they were standing too close to a bomb for their own good."

Ianto watched him passively, his eyes half closed, his dry wit silent. His eyelids fluttered just before one of the monitors bleeped a warning and Ianto stopped breathing. Owen swore again as he staggered around the bed.

"Christ, he's going into cardiogenic shock! Tosh, get down here, we need you!" Jack caught Owen as he collapsed, clutching his chest and gasping for air, and they sank gracelessly to the floor. Jack didn't know what to do; Ianto was unresponsive as Tosh came rushing downstairs, and Owen was feeling it all.

"Ianto—" Owen gasped, struggling for air. His face was contorted in pain, and he cursed again as he clawed at his chest. "Shit, this hurts! Tosh, you've got to break the connection or I can't help him!"

"Tosh?" Jack demanded. Tosh stared at them, shaking her head.

"I don't know how," she whispered. "I haven't figured it out yet, I'm sorry, I can't—"

"It's all right," Jack said, though it clearly wasn't. Ianto was dying on the table above them and Owen was in no condition to save him. "Owen, tell me what to do!"

"Start CPR," Owen gasped. "And call an ambulance."

Jack nodded and looked at Tosh, ran back upstairs without a word to contact the paramedics. He left Owen on the floor and went to Ianto, knowing the doctor wasn't actually experiencing what was happening to Ianto, but the pain he felt through their connection. Starting chest compressions, Jack counted off and blew into Ianto's mouth, willing the man back to life. Yet after two rounds, Ianto remained unresponsive. Jack's panic kicked up a notch.

"It's not working," he said, then repeated it louder. "It's not working, Owen. What do I do?"

"Ambulance is on it's way," said Tosh, barreling back down the steps.

"Tosh," Owen gasped, reaching out for her. "If he dies, will the connection break?"

She glanced wide-eyed at Jack before shaking her head. "It could, maybe, but I don't know for sure. If it's dependent on both parties being alive for—"

"No!" shouted Jack, resuming CPR. "You can't lethim die to test out a theory!"

"I can't help him like this, Jack," Owen snapped. "If the connection breaks, I can bring him back."

"And if it doesn't?" Jack demanded. "And you can't? I can bring him back, just tell me what to do! Now!"

But a second monitor went off as Ianto's heart stopped, and Owen lost consciousness. Jack swore vehemently before looking at Tosh.

"Do you think it'll work?" he demanded, not waiting for an answer because he knew there was no choice. "How long?"

"How long?" Tosh repeated, obviously not understanding.

"How long do you think he needs to…" He swallowed and refused to say it. "Before the connection breaks?"

"Oh," she said. "I don't know. Tech support usually calls for a minute to reset computers, and it is tech based…"

Jack wanted to snap that Ianto wasn't a computer being unplugged and rebooted; he was a human being who had stopped breathing, whose heart had stopped beating. But he took a deep breath, because yelling at Tosh would help no one. Holding up his hands, he counted under his breath. When he got to sixty, he started breathing into Ianto's mouth, willing his own life energy into the other man. Still nothing.

"Come on," he whispered, pressing on Ianto's chest once more. "Stay with me, Ianto. You can't die on me, not now. Please," he choked out on a sob.

It was as if his worst nightmare had come true: Ianto dying in his arms as Jack tried furiously to save him. It wasn't fair, they'd had so little time together! Jack had come back because he wanted a second chance with Ianto, and it had been even better than he'd imagined during his year away. It couldn't end so soon. He kept going, tears falling freely as he automatically counted another round of chest compressions, determined to save the man who had come to mean so much to him.

Behind him he heard a gasp from Owen, followed by coughing. Then Owen was beside him, unsteady but conscious and moving. He grabbed a nearby crash trolley and slapped the defibrillator paddles into Jack's hands, guiding them to Ianto's chest before turning back to the controls. "Charging…clear!"

Jack felt the jolt from the paddles flowing into Ianto, trying to restart his heart, but the monitors did not resume their life-affirming rhythms. Owen dialed it up. "Again…charging…clear!"

Ianto surged upward, but his heart did not start. Owen swore and ripped open a nearby drawer. He grabbed a large needle and pushed aside vials of medicine until he found the one he was looking for. Before Jack could ask whether or not he should use the paddles again, Owen shoved him away, threw himself over the table, and injected the needle with the medication into Ianto's IV line before starting chest compressions again. Tosh sobbed behind them, and Jack put his arm around her, holding her tight, too stunned to do anything else but watch.

Whatever Owen did worked, the monitors springing back to life just before Ianto's eyes shot open and he glanced around in panic. Jack dashed back to him and gripped his hand while Owen stepped back and took deep breaths. Tosh moved to support him, remaining close as he began to check on Ianto.

"That was worse than getting a phantom grope, teaboy," Owen muttered. He placed the oxygen mask on Ianto and injected another solution into the IV, then stepped back and ran a hand through his hair. "Now to figure out what the hell happened so you don't pull that again."

Ianto reached up and took the mask from his face. "Are we still connected?" he rasped.

"Nope, you're free of me," said Owen, a forced lightness to his voice. "Finally figured out how to break the connection."

"Tosh?" asked Ianto. She shook her head, unable to speak, and Jack pulled Ianto's attention back to him.

"You died," he said softly, brushing his hand across Ianto's cheek and through his hair. "You actually died."

"Oh," said Ianto, frowning as he gazed into Jack's eyes. He reached up and wiped away a tear Jack hadn't even realized was falling. "Sorry."

Jack laughed, his head falling to his chest as all the adrenaline and nervous energy left him suddenly shaky. "Don't apologize. It broke the connection so Owen could bring you back."

Ianto's eyes tracked over toward Owen. "Thanks for that," he said. "Tired," he murmured, his eyes slowly closing.

"Owen?" Jack asked in alarm, fearing that Ianto was slipping away again. The monitors were unchanged, however, and Owen nodded after checking his patient.

"It's fine, Jack," he said. "He probably really is tired, his body has just gone through the ringer in the last hour. But everything looks steady so I think he's going to be okay for now."

"What the hell happened?" Jack demanded.

"Best guess? Cardiac contusion send him into shock," said Owen. "But I need to run some imaging tests to be sure." He paused. "Didn't we order an ambulance?"

They all stared at one another before Tosh ran up to her desk and checked the CCTV. "They're at the tourist office, Jack!" she called down. "What do you want me to do?"

"Tell them to—" Jack started, but stopped when Owen shook his head.

"Hang on," he said softly, then motioned Jack away from Ianto. "Look, I know we don't like hospitals around here and god knows I hate the NHS, but this is something he could use a specialist for." He held up his hand to stop Jack's protest. "I can treat him, yes, but I don't necessarily have all the equipment to do it right. A cardiac care unit would be better."

Jack glanced back at Ianto in surprise. "A cardiac unit?" he said. "But he's only 25!"

"Yes, which is good. He's young and fit, so he should recover with few issues."

"He'll hate it," Jack said, shaking his head.

"Me too," said Owen. "But he was just in an explosion that damaged his heart. I can do a lot of things here, but this might be something we need extra help with."

"Might be?" Jack asked.

Owen shrugged. "Without knowing the extent of damage to his heart, it's hard to say how serious it is. Better safe than sorry, though. He'd have around the clock emergency care at the hospital, which is more than we can say here if we all get called out on something big."

"Right," said Jack. He sighed. "Right. Tosh, tell them we'll be right up."

"Okay," she said, then appeared at the railing. "Um, how are we going to do that?"

"I'll bring the folding bed from storage and Jack'll bring Ianto," Owen said. "We should be able to transfer him with minimal disruption to the lift."

"Is that wise?" Tosh asked. "Moving him right now?"

"Better now than in the middle of a heart attack," Owen pointed out.

Tosh went up to see to the paramedics while Owen turned to get what he needed. Jack stopped him with a hand on his arm. "Are you all right?" he asked. "You don't feel the connection anymore?"

"I'm exhausted, probably because my body felt everything Ianto was going through," Owen said, then shrugged again. "The connection is definitely gone, though, and I'll be fine after some eventual sleep. Was Gwen hurt?"

"I don't think so," said Jack. "I asked UNIT to look her over once they got things under control."

Owen pulled a face. "I bet she'll love that. Have her meet us at the hospital so I can look her over one better. All right, I'll be back with the bed."

Heading back over to where Ianto slept peacefully, Jack once more ran a hand across the younger man's face. He took several deep breaths to calm his racing heart. It had been close, too close. Now it was time to face the consequences, and this time Jack was determined to do better.

* * *

Author's Note:

As I have no doubt pointed out before, I am not a doctor, so if I've done something medically impossible I apologize. I did say it was going to get more serious, so I hope you enjoyed this chapter in spite of how different it is from the start. I was also planning on three parts, but I'll have to wrap it up with a fourth. It will be an extra week or two, however, as I plan to completely ignore everything on vacation. Thanks to Taamar for some consulting, and to everyone who had read and reviewed!


	4. 4: Summation

4: Summation

The steady beeping sound should have been relaxing and reassuring. He was alive, his heart was beating, and according to the doctors (and Owen, who begrudgingly agreed) it would continue to beat regularly without any further issues. Yet for Ianto, the sound was a constant reminder of where he was and why he was there. He wasn't at Torchwood recovering in the medical bay, he wasn't even in his own flat on forced medical leave like he'd been for a week after the fiasco in the countryside; he was in hospital, surrounded by normal people with normal jobs and normal sicknesses, only nothing about him was normal. He didn't belong there and needed to get out.

Fortunately, he was being released after a week of constant poking and prodding. Jack was picking him up, and he'd never have to hear those damn monitors ever again. Well, assuming he wasn't at ground zero of an alien explosion ever again. As he had no plans to go near another bomb anytime soon, Ianto hoped to avoid any future heart attacks; then again, Torchwood being what it was, there was a strong possibility that something else would put him back in the hospital in even worse shape some day. Ianto pushed the thought aside and tried not to think about it too much, because it was his job and the risk he took to do it.

The monitors beeped, and for a moment Ianto watched the lines travel across the screen, assuring anyone who happened to glance at them that he was, in fact, alive and kicking, figuratively speaking. It was his life reduced to nothing but a series of blips and bleeps, sounds and silence. If only things were so simple. The blips and bleeps did not really indicate much more than a person's heart was still beating, and Ianto was keenly aware that while the monitors and tests and doctors might declare him alive, that could change in the proverbial second. He'd seen his life literally flash before him back at the warehouse with the space whale, when time had slowed down after the empty click of the gun fired at his head. This time he'd lost consciousness too fast to ponder his mortality, but he'd done a lot of thinking since waking up in the hospital. His existence was finite, his days with Torchwood nothing but borrowed time. Ianto was so lost in his thoughts of life, the universe, and the answer to everything that he did not hear Jack enter and shut the door until he cleared his throat and grinned.

"Sheep-shearing?" he asked. Ianto rolled his eyes and sat up straighter.

"I believe the phrase you're looking for is wool-gathering, but yes, I suppose I was." Jack dropped a rucksack onto a nearby table and sat down next to the bed.

"The doctor said you're free to go as soon as they come by for one last poke. Are you ready?" he asked. "Or do you need more time?"

"God, no," said Ianto. "I need to get out of here, at least back to my own flat if Owen won't let me back to work."

Jack studied him thoughtfully. "You look a damn sight better than a week ago, but do you feel better?" he asked again. "Honestly?"

"Honestly, Jack," Ianto replied with a frown. "I won't get any better sitting around here. I'm hoping Owen will clear me for light duty at the very least, and I can start my rehabilitation program with him at the Hub. I have to check in with my cardiac specialist every week, but should be good to sign off within a few months."

Jack still didn't seem convinced and asked him a dozen different questions, all variations on whether or not he was ready to leave. Ianto finally decided to shock him into confessing his real thoughts rather than slowly trying to draw it out of the man. "Why do you keep asking me if I'm all right? Don't you want me back at work?"

As he expected, Jack's head shot up, his eyes wide. "Of course I do! It's not the same without you, even Owen misses having someone who bites back when he takes the mickey."

"Do you think I'm unfit for duty?" Ianto prodded.

"That's not my call," Jack said, shaking his head. "If the doctors say you're ready, then you're ready."

"You obviously don't believe them," Ianto replied. "Or me."

Jack let his head fall. "You had a heart attack," he murmured, so soft that Ianto had to lean forward to hear him. "You _died._ That's not something to take lightly."

"I'm not taking it lightly," Ianto said. "I'm quite aware of what happened. I was ten feet from an alien bomb that bruised my heart and left me with ten stitches in my shoulder and a mild concussion. That's serious."

Jack frowned. "Then why do you sound so flippant about it?" he asked.

"I'm not trying to be flippant," Ianto replied. "I'm being pragmatic. It's my job. It happened. I was hurt and yes, I suppose I…" He paused, because in truth he was still trying to process the fact that he had actually died. He didn't remember anything, after all. Only darkness, and the light that had pulled him back. "I died, but I survived. It will probably happen again, and it's entirely possible that next time—"

"Don't say it!" Jack snapped, standing up and starting to pace. "Don't even think it!"

"It's the truth," Ianto replied. "Because it's the job."

Jack stared at him, his jaw tight and his eyes bright. "It's too soon," he whispered. "I don't want to lose you when I've only just found you."

Ianto sighed. He'd sensed something had been bothering Jack for weeks, and during the time he'd spent in the hospital, his instinct had only grown. Jack had visited every day, had stayed over almost every night. He'd snuck in hospital food and brought books and videos and even a thermos of the best coffee in Cardiff. If Ianto had to put a word to it, Jack had positively doted on him, and while it had been nice—especially those first few days when Ianto had been confused and in pain—now it was time to come back to reality. Their reality, whatever it was, which didn't include doting or declarations, but mishaps with alien technology and bombs planted in alien nests.

Holding out his hand, Ianto wiggled his fingers until Jack came over and took it. Then he pulled Jack down toward the bed, grinning when Jack fell gracelessly next to him. He held tight when Jack tried to get up.

"I don't want to hurt you," Jack started, and Ianto stopped him by placing his other hand around the back of Jack's head and pulling him down for a long kiss. Jack resisted at first, but Ianto was insistent and soon Jack was kissing him back, his hands coming to frame Ianto's face, gently stroking his jaw. Ianto grinned again; he had missed this. Jack had been treating him like glass since the explosion, and Ianto was determined to prove him wrong as soon as he was released—if not before.

When Jack started to pull away, Ianto held him tight and nipped at his lower lip. He was rewarded with a moan he had not heard for a week, and let his hands roam down Jack's back and across his arse.

"Really?" Jack murmured against his lips. "Here, in the hospital?"

"Now that you're actually touching me again, yes," said Ianto. Jack sighed and pulled back. Ianto raised an eyebrow in challenge.

"I'm sorry," Jack began, but Ianto cut him off.

"Don't be. I understand. But I'm not broken and I'm not going to break any time soon, so please don't treat me like I am and I will."

Jack nodded. "I know that, I do. But it's hard. I just…" He trailed off with a helpless shrug.

"You what?" asked Ianto. "Does this have something to do with what happened at the warehouse?" He paused. "Or after?"

Jack laughed bitterly through his nose. "You mean what didn't happen after?"

"I don't know what you mean, actually," Ianto admitted. "The park blew up before you had a chance to explain."

Jack sighed and sat up. He ran a nervous hand through his hair. "I… I didn't take care of you after what happened at that warehouse. That night, the next day. All I could think about was myself, and I don't want to be like that. You've done so much for me since I came back, I want to be there for you."

"You have been there for me," Ianto said. "You've been amazing this past week, but I hope it's not because you felt you had to make up for something."

"But I do!" Jack exclaimed. "I should have looked after you that day, that night. You were injured, and then there was the fiasco with Gwen and Rhys—"

"The less said about that the better," Ianto muttered, and Jack grimaced.

"I know. I was an arse. A complete and utter arse. I was too wrapped up in my own issues to set them aside and take care of you—"

"Jack!" Ianto interrupted. "I've already told you I don't need a minder. I can take care of myself."

To his surprise, Jack took his hand. "And like I said, I know that and I believe in you, but that doesn't stop me from wanting to take care of you." He let his head fall to his chest.

"I know I screwed up that day, in many ways. I wanted to go to you so badly, except you left without a word and I knew it was because of me." He glanced up. "And when you came in late the next day with those bandages, I realized how badly I'd failed you."

Ianto didn't speak. They'd not talked about it at the time, acknowledging Ianto's injuries and Jack's guilt with as few words as possible, because that was what they did. They ignored and denied and generally swept things under the rug until forgotten. It had been awkward for a few days, until they'd both set it aside…the guilt, frustration, hurt, anger…and returned to the way things were. Ianto would have never thought Jack had continued to carry it around with him for so long, and he wondered at the implications before he put it from his mind. Jack was speaking again.

"You almost died that day, and yet no one said anything. It was all about Gwen and Rhys, and I hate that sometimes, I do, but it's so hard…" He trailed off with a grimace. Ianto squeezed his hand. He understood that Gwen frequently turned things into her own personal story; that didn't make it easier when Jack bought into it, however. One day it would come crashing down around them all.

"I know," he said quietly. "It's hard for everyone, and each of us for different reasons." When Jack opened his mouth to reply, Ianto held up his other hand to stop him. "But I really don't want to go into that, not here, not now. " _Not ever,_ said the voice in his head. It was far easier to ignore most of the things about Gwen and Jack that bothered him than to actually examine why.

Jack studied him carefully before nodding. "I'm sorry," he said. "I know I've said it before, but I'm sorry you had to deal with all that yourself—your wrist, your thumb, your head. Gwen. Me." He met his eyes. "I don't want it to happen again. I want to be there when you need me. Do you understand?"

"It's really not necessary—"Ianto began, but apparently he _didn't_ understand because Jack huffed at him.

"I know that! I know you are a strong, frighteningly capable man who can get through just about anything on his own—"

"Just about anything?" Ianto murmured with a smile. Jack lightly swatted him on the knee, then left his hand there, rubbing gentle circles.

"But everyone needs support at some point. You need it now, even if you don't want to admit it. I needed it that night, but I blew it with the only person I wanted it from."

Ianto raised an eyebrow. "You do realize I could interpret this completely wrong, don't you?"

Jack waved him off. "Yes, I know. Because you're clever and can twist things around like very few people, especially when you're sublimating. You know me, though," he said, meeting Ianto's eyes with intensity. "And I think you know that's not my motivation here."

"Ah." Ianto swallowed thickly. These moments were so awkward, moments when it seemed like their sort-of-more-than-shagging relationship was in danger of becoming a full-blown together-as-a-couple relationship. Yet he didn't think Jack wanted that and wasn't sure if he was ready himself. They'd agreed from their first date to keep it casual. Damn these life-and-death situations for bringing up unwanted existential angst. Deflection was the best defense.

"And what if that's my motivation?" he asked lightly. Jack narrowed his eyes and smiled, a slightly crooked half smile that crinkled his eyes with affection, and Ianto almost lost it, the man was gorgeous and amazing when he looked at Ianto like that.

"Then I am always willing and ready to oblige, especially for a man in need," he teased. Ianto released the tightness in his shoulders as the intense moment ended. They were ready to move on with their teasing and banter. Back to normal, until Jack leaned closer and kissed him so gently, so tenderly, with so much—no. Not that, definitely not that.

"As long as you're careful and take care of yourself," Jack murmured, surprising Ianto even more as he ran a hand through Ianto's mussed up hair. "Because I want you to stick around as long as you can."

Ianto took a deep breath and nodded. "I can do that," he said softly. They gazed into one another's eyes, a silent understanding of…well, of something…passing between them. They might have stayed like that for hours, except for the sound of a throat being cleared at the door, where Owen stood with Ianto's cardiologist.

"Enough mushiness," he groused. "Hospitals do funny things to people so let's get you out of here as soon as possible before one of you proposes or something."

"Right," Ianto replied, sitting back quickly. "Poke away then." Jack stepped away without a comeback or a quip, watching with concern. When both doctors pronounced Ianto fit to leave, he heaved a sigh of relief and wasted no time shooing them from the room so he could get dressed and go home.

"Thanks for the clothes, and for taking me home," he said as he pulled on the jeans and jumper Jack had brought for him. "Stay for dinner?"

"As long as you let me cook," Jack replied. "Or call for takeaway."

"Anything's better than hospital food," Ianto said. "As long as I can have you for dessert."

Jack wrinkled his nose. "Hey, that's usually my line!"

"Which you haven't used in a while," Ianto pointed out. "So I'll do whatever I can to get you into bed. Even find that stopwatch if I have to."

Jack cocked his head and grinned. "Oh, I could go for that. I could definitely go for that."

"Then it's a deal. Take me home, feed me, and we'll take turns ravishing each other." A sudden thought occurred to him. "And this time Owen won't feel everything so we can actually finish."

They laughed as they headed out toward the SUV, walking close with arms touching. As Ianto buckled himself into the passenger side, another thought came to him. "What happened with the device?" he asked. "The one that connected me and Owen?"

Jack glanced sideways at him and shrugged. "I tagged it as best as I could, locked it in a containment box, and put it in the archives. Not much else to be done with it."

"So the connection only ended because I died?" asked Ianto. Jack nodded.

"Tosh was very frustrated about not being able to figure it out, even after the dust settled from your little adventure with Owen. But I suspect there is a way to break the connection, if you know how to work the device."

Jack was suddenly morose again, driving more slowly than usual, his hands tight on the wheel, eyes straight ahead on the road. He was already back to glass-Ianto mode, and Ianto sensed he would need many distractions over the coming days and weeks. Which was fine; distracting Jack would be a distraction from Ianto's own confusing thoughts.

"It's too bad she couldn't figure it out," Ianto offered casually.

Jack glanced sideways again with a half-hearted grin. "Why's that? Curious about Owen on the pull?"

"God no," Ianto made a face, grimacing at the very thought. Then he smirked slyly. "But I would be curious how it felt for you."

"Going on the pull?" Jack asked skeptically. "You know I don't—"

"Jack," Ianto stopped him. "That's not what I meant."

He turned back to the road and frowned, then turned back in surprise. "Oh…"

"Imagine if you felt what I felt and I felt what you felt and we both felt what we normally feel…" He trailed off, letting Jack imagine it all. The SUV sped up.

"I'll take another look at it," Jack said. "Because that is the best idea I've heard in a long time!"

He reached out and took Ianto's hand, and Ianto smiled, glad to have distracted him once more. Then again, it was a hell of an idea, and he half hoped Jack learned something out about the device so they could experiment a bit.

In the meantime, he'd settle for the warmth of Jack's hand in his own, a quiet dinner together, and some quality time with the stopwatch.

* * *

Author's Note:

The End! Sorry about the long wait for this, it stalled about halfway through and as usual, all I can do is work on other things and wait for inspiration to strike. Thank you so much for reading this strange little story that didn't turn out at all like I intended when I started it. I appreciate all the reviews and hope you enjoyed it!


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